We have not overthrown the divine right of kings to fall down for the divine right of experts.

–Harold MacMillan

This morning I opened my news feed, then ran to get my shotgun.

My barrel of fish had arrived.

This headline was purportedly about cancer, not about nutrition, but you’ll see if you read it that nutrition, exercise and obesity all play an important part in the article. Thus it got my attention. The title of this wondrous piece is “Americans Confused About Cancer Risk” on Philly.com. (And elsewhere.)Continue reading

I’ve been gone a while. After the busy-ness of the holiday there was the inevitable flu. Then I came here and wrote what I can assure you was a scintillating, show-stopper of a blog post that was so scintillating it froze my computer and I lost it all. When that happens, I become discouraged. It takes a while to go do it again.

But here we are again, and let’s see what has been happening in the world of nutrition over the last couple weeks.

Now grocer’s trade Is in request, For plums and spices Of the best Good cheer doth with This month agree, And dainty chaps Must sweetned be. Mirth and gladness Doth abound, And strong beer in Each house is found. Minc’d pies, roast beef With other cheer And feasting, doth Conclude the year.

–”Poor Robin” 1677

As you head into Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and then New Year’s and all the attendant feasting, what kind of a plan do you have?

I can’t tell you what plan will work for you; I can only tell you what my plan is. And it does work for me. Read it if you like; ignore it if you will; adopt parts for yourself and throw out what you don’t like. It’s up to you–just don’t go over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house with nothing more than a vague hope that you’d like to “eat well.”

To develop a good plan, you need to know the ground. It’s no good figuring out how to arrange the cavalry if you don’t even know in which direction the enemy is. In our case, the preliminary information we need is from our new, and better, understanding of reality.